In honor of my brother’s birthday today (Betty’s son Tim), I’m making pie.

I broke away from my recent sequence of making recipes in the order I find them in Mom’s two cookbooks by skipping right to the dessert section of the green index card file that has about 100 recipes in it. A funny little recipe (see below) caught my eye because it had no name. So I chose it without doubt.

I almost named this “no name pie,” but I thought I could do better than that so “Chocolate Pecan Ritz Pie” seemed suitable enough.

Tim is the oldest of 3 of Louis and Betty’s kids. I’ve known him to be a fan of hunting and fishing, sports and good Tex Mex. Shown here is a picture of Tim as a yell leader at MacArthur High School from the 1970s – a time when our family was eating many of the recipes here at Betty’s Cook Nook.

I hope you enjoy this pie as much as I did. Hats off to you on your sweet day, big bro!

Here’s a pic of my brother Tim when he was a Yell Leader at MacArthur High School. He’s the 3rd Yell Leader from left to right. #PerfectPosture

foodie tips ~

❤ Whipping cream or whipped cream? So whipped cream is whipping cream after it has been whipped. I’m not sure if this recipe really called for whipping cream to be poured on top, so I whipped mine. I prefer my whipped cream with tall, thick peaks – not flimsy and runny rivers which is what I associate with canned whipped cream.

I suppose I’m a bit of a whipped cream snob as I have a gourmet whipper that I, ahem, whip out when it’s time for the best. It only takes a few moments to make fresh whipped cream and I can sweeten and flavor the cream to my liking. Chocolate whipped cream? I’ve done it, and so can you!

❤ Here in Texas “nuts” is an abbreviation for “Texas Pecans.” Giddy up!

❤ If you also top the pie with more chopped pecans, I’m likely to high five you. #ThisIsTexas!
i. ingredients

2. Stir together the sugar and baking powder and add to the egg whites and gently fold in.

3. Add the pecans and the Ritz crackers and fold in.

4. Pour your mix into a buttered pie plate and bake in your preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Nobody likes charred pie so please watch carefully so that you don’t overcook this sweet dish!

5. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool thoroughly. Use a cooling rack if you’re in somewhat of a hurry.

6. Top the pie with some fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Serve chilled.

Yields about 6 – 8 servings

~ Patrick

Betty’s SonFounder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook

A scan of Mom’s pie recipe. It was penned without a name so I coined it “Chocolate Pecan Ritz Pie.”

Flashback 1970s

I thought it would be fun to have a look at some vintage 60s and 70s whipped cream advertising.

While we often had Reddi-wip at the ready in our fridge, it looks like they didn’t run commercials in the good ol’ days (just print). Here’s one of the most peculiar print ads I found which seems to promise that serving Reddi-Wip will get you a man or sex. Or both. (Sous Chef‘s Note: We all know sex is really guaranteed after serving the Pineapple Cheese Salad recipe cleverly included in the ad. Um, NO thank you!

Since my family also enjoyed the fresh non-dairyness of Cool Whip Whipped Topping, here are some of their funny commercials:

I don’t have the heart to tell Little Susie that with Cool Whip “Swiggle” she really CAN keep her cake forever – that stuff surely lasts the test of time! #cardboard. Enjoy this 1970s spot:

Gomer Pyle and Cool Whip make for the perfect promotion for all Americans*. *Except those in Wisconsin.

One of my more recent holiday traditions was literally handed to me by my brother Roger’s mother in law, “Lou.”

Each year when I blew into town from college for holiday visits Lou would always have a special plate of several handmade holiday sweets for me … and her special chosen ones. There were cookies and brownies and some things I never knew what they were called and I loved them anyway because they tasted great and they were made with love.

Of all the holiday treats the ones I always ate first were the chocolate pb balls. If you love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups you will love these as much as Christmas itself!

A few years after Lou had passed I remembered these favorites and finally tracked down the recipe through a family member “Dollie” who secured her spot in “Awesomeville” forever more for sending a pic of the recipe (below) my way. On Thanksgiving weekend 2013 two of my nieces (Lou’s grandkids) Kim and Lizzie and I made these together and it was one of the most special things ever!

We all love and miss Lou very much. But especially when I eat these chocolate covered peanut butter balls, she’s only a lick of a chocolatey finger and a wink away!

♥ Kim, Lizzie and I had a difficult time finding the paraffin wax. My local HEB Foodie intercepted our shopper’s frustration and told us to use chocolate cubes because they have more cocoa and they include the paraffin wax ingredients which makes them great for coating. He was right! We omitted the Hershey’s chocolate bar (forgive me), the chocolate chips (forgive me again) and the paraffin wax and used Ambrosia brand Chocolate Flavored Bark Coating (a.k.a. bark coating).

♥ We were only able to find Jif Extra Crunchy peanut butter. I checked out the Jif website and it appears Jif only produces creamy or extra crunchy peanut butter (no “regular” crunchy) at this time. My hunch is that the folks at Jif had some consumer insight that said their customers are big crunch lovers.

♥ About 30 balls into the mass dipping, we noticed the balls were starting to crumble when the toothpicks were inserted into them or when they were toothpick diving into the chocolate. Angry faces! We put the tray of balls into the freezer for 10-15 minutes and they firmed right back up. Happy faces! You can leverage your angry broken ball frustration by re-forming any broken balls into new balls or simply put the broken pieces into a freezer-safe Ziploc bag – I plan to decorate the top of a large bowl of ice cream with the broken pieces. Soon.

♥ If the melted chocolate becomes difficult to work with, zap it in the microwave about 30 seconds and it’ll return to creamy.

♥ We doubled this recipe and it made a ton! Plan on a single batch yielding about 50-60 balls. For the doubling we used extra butter to aid with forming (½ cup) and extra chocolate to help coat (4-6 squares) for each batch.

♥ On the next go of this recipe I’m going to try and drizzle some white chocolate on top for some contrast. That was actually Kim’s idea but since I typed this recipe up on Betty’s Cook Nook, I’ll take credit for it. Ssssshhhh! :)

1. Mix together the butter, powdered sugar, peanut butter and the rice krispies. Form the mixture into 1″ balls then refrigerate for at least 1 hour. You will have to use pressure to mold the balls as the mixture is fairly dry. You’ll get better at forming as you go!

2. Just before you’re ready to start dipping, melt your Ambrosia bark coating (or the last three ingredients above) in a microwave safe Pyrex bowl. Do not boil!

3. Insert a toothpick into the center of the rolled ball and completely dip it into the melted chocolate. With the toothpick horizontal to the bowl gently tap the toothpick and ball against the rim of the bowl a few times to return some of the chocolate “runoff” back into the bowl. If you leave too much chocolate on the ball it may form a flat foot for the finished ball and this tapping technique will yield a tight round ball.

4. While the ball is still on the toothpick move it over a tray or counter lined with wax paper (or nonstick foil) and shake it off of the toothpick. It may be helpful to use a second toothpick to free the ball from the toothpick. If there’s a crater-blemish on the top of the ball you can smooth things over with the toothpick or a dab more chocolate. Continue dipping the balls until you’re all done.

5. The chocolate will cool with a little time. You can transfer the finished chocolate covered peanut butter balls to fluted paper petit four cups or to a serving plate or gift box.